A Crushing Revelation

I received a crushing revelation this week. I found out I am not perfect. Those of you who know me very well understand that is not an easy thing for me to admit. I have always known it, but I usually do my very best to keep most of the things secret that might give me away. This week, however, a crushing reminder that I have done things in the past I ought not to have done came on stage and I had to work through how I felt about that. I am possibly more than a little embarrassed looking back at some of the things I have thought, said, and acted out in some cases. No, I am not going to confess them here. That has already been done and I do not do them any longer. In case that was not quite clear, the point is not that I have sinned. The point is those sins are in the past. It is kind of like being on the right side of, "Don't ask, don't tell."

One of the things I already knew is that people's memories are much longer than God's. This is especially true of those who would make themselves our enemies. The clear teaching of scripture is that our response to our sin should be to confess it, repent of it, and leave it at the cross of Jesus. Do not ask me about, or wait for me to confess, any of those things. It is an insult to the blood of Jesus and to His completed work in our lives to rehearse our forgiven sins.

There are those who think it a noble endeavor to discuss their past sins as a way of giving glory to God for what He has done. I think the theological word for that is translated "baloney." We give God glory by living a life that is pleasing to Him. That is what grace is all about. God gives us the ability, in spite of ourselves, to live the life He wants us to live, free from the sins of our past.

I once made the mistake of telling my daughter about what a great work God had done in the life of a man I was introducing to her. I mentioned, without detail, that he had been anything but a Christian when I had first met him years before. He took me aside and told me, not so politely, that he did not need to have me remind anyone of his past. That was a decade ago and writing this, I now understand the truth of what he was telling me.

Before we leave this subject, it is also an insult--on multiple levels--to rehearse the sins of anyone else. Our primary commandment as New Testament believers is to love God. (Matthew 22:37) The second commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39) Love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8) All have sinned.(Romans 3:23) There are no sins that are worse than any others. Once we have confessed (told God we understand) our sins and repented (turned away from them) God forgets them (Hebrews 8:12)

Yes, I am crushed, just as all the other grapes in the Master's vineyard--crushed that the fragrance and the flavor of new wine might flow forth to a world that so desperately needs it. I am not perfect, but I am doing my best. I trust you are too. God bless!

His Part--Our Part

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."  (Ephesians 2:8-9)

As regular readers know, these verses were brought to our attention by Mr. or Ms. Anonymous in a comment a few posts back. Although we do not often comment on comments, we did on that one. It is always a welcomed experience when we hear something from the Holy Spirit and it is almost immediately confirmed by someone else who heard the same thing. What follows is an expanded version of what we believe God is trying to tell us with these verses.

These verses from Ephesians 2 are so familiar to most Christians that any further expansion of them could be tiring or redundant. Most of us heard them beginning at our own born-again experience and have repeated them to people we were witnessing to since that time.

There is one point in these verses that is usually missed. We tend to think the word "saved" refers exclusively to being born-again. If you did not think that, you can still be part of "we." This can be an act of patience for you as the rest of us catch up. One of the things this author enjoys most about writing is he learns so much during the process--and from the comments that are made later.

As we began to say, being saved only starts when we are born-again. A quick study of the Greek grammar here shows us that the word "saved" in these verses is from a verb that literally means, to be delivered from any and all suffering and judgement. (The dictionary definition would take more room than we have here.) Furthermore, the tense shows us this action was completed at some point in the past. Putting that all together, we see that sometime ago, all suffering and judgement were eliminated from us. Where there is no judgement, the grace of God has free reign to accomplish His works. Although it was the death of Jesus on the cross that made it possible, this happened for each of us individually when we activated grace by an act of faith. That act, of course, was making Jesus Lord of our lives. I can see you are not all as excited about this as I am. Wait, you get more.

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)

The grace that drew us to God and compelled us to make Jesus our Lord, began to work salvation in our lives at that very moment. It is the same grace we activate every time we believe what God is telling us to do, and act on it. We cannot simply verbalize that we believe a thing and not do something in response to that belief. (James 2:18) When we really believe anything, we act on it. That is the way human beings are wired, if you will.

Having been born-again, we find things are different than they were before. We think differently. We act differently. We begin to understand our lives are not the same anymore. No matter what comes against us, the grace of God helps us through it. That is salvation at work in our lives. Whatever we need is included in our salvation and provided by His grace. Our part is to simply believe--then act on what He tells us to do.

Perhaps the Lord is speaking something to you right now. Demonstrate your faith by acting on it, whatever it is. Just as salvation came to your house when you made Jesus Lord of your life, salvation will come to your house to meet your every need. God bless you as you do!

Change Your Mind

I have a friend I do not play chess with anymore. Truth be told we only played one time, over two decades ago. That was enough for me. I thought the game was going well. I knew he was smarter than I am, but I was holding my own. Tom moved a piece and announced, "Check Mate." As I said we do not play anymore. It is not so much that I mind losing (God knows I have done enough of it to accept that it happens.), it was just crushing to think I could play with someone smarter and technically better than I was at the game and then have reality come crashing down on me.

My  mother-in-law gave me a word from the Lord around the same time I had played that game of chess. As I recall, her exact words were, "David, the devil is setting a trap for your soul." Okay, thanks Carolyn. That was about it--until the devil blind-sided me within the next month and knocked my life sideways. Bad news for him though: I'm baaaaaaack. I am not playing with him anymore either. (Starting today I hope.)

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I saw a couple friends who go back to high school days or thereabouts, visited with a more recent friend over Starbucks, and talked an online friend out of committing suicide. Other than that it was pretty uneventful. In case you're wondering, there were a couple minor setbacks, but we are not talking about them. Life happens.

Life happens whether we are paying attention or not. Life happens while we are doing the things we think we have to do, the things we want to do, and the things we do when we are not even thinking. The friends I met with yesterday were all between 55 and 60 years of age. Where did those years go? My children are mostly over 30 now. My babies are having babies. When did that happen?

In my personal opinion, at this point in my life, the most difficult thing the Lord ever asks anyone to do is "Take no thought for tomorrow."(Matthew 6:34) Some of you are ahead of me in this so please be patient. This is one area in which I have not gained the rest of God. (Hebrews 4)

There is a video of a sermon streaming into my ear-buds as this is being written. It is a fairly long sermon. The point is that when we carry our own cares we have made ourselves the source of our supply. The speaker claims that is the essence of pride. I donno, it sounds pretty American, self-sufficient to me.

I got my first job when I was sixteen because there was not enough money in the household to stretch as far as it needed to. Well, not as far as I wanted it to anyway. One of the things I did with my first paycheck was to go have my hair cut by a professional. Mom really tried, but she never did get very good at it. I think the artistic bent in the family, such as it is, comes from the other side.

I paid my way through college. The Lord had to make me quit two jobs while I was there. (You all know I am a slow learner.) Then He gave me the perfect job--at exactly the right time--so I did not run out of money before I ran out of school bills.

I used to be a world-class worrier; not so much anymore. Now I only worry when an occasion arises and only on days that end in "y." One last thought. I am going to claim this one is from the Holy Spirit. It came so naturally to my mind it almost seemed like I might have made it up. Here it is. It is ridiculous to believe God will suddenly stop providing for all our needs.

Apparently the point here is to get us thinking about these things because this is the end. God bless!

God Uses the Stupid Things

Perhaps the most stupid bumper sticker I ever saw, with the possible exception of the one that reads, "Bumper Sticker" is the one that reads, "Everywhere I Go, There I Am." Well duh. At least that is what I used to think.

Yesterday, I took the day off. I left on a personal road trip early in the morning and returned a little before bedtime. I was feeling as though my life had run into a dead end. As I shared that with my loving wife, she suggested I get out of Santa Maria for a road trip (three times). She knows I usually return from those times in a better frame of mind.

I had one mission the Lord wanted me to accomplish in Santa Barbara so I headed south. Having accomplished that, I continued south. My mind was running over a few of the people I knew in Ventura. The name of a pastor came to mind. As I thought about it, it has been almost exactly 34 years since we had seen each other. He lost his wife of 40+ years to cancer this year. I ended up stopping by his house and we talked and prayed together for half an hour or so.

Since I had no agenda and no timetable, I could head any direction from there. Well, I would not have gone very far west since Ventura is a beach city (for those of you in other parts of the world). State Highway 33 heads north from Ventura, through Ojai and down to connect with Highway 166 between Cuyama and Maricopa. From Ojai it is a lonely, winding, desertish road that heads up to Pine Mountain pass just over 5,000 feet above sea level before heading down to the thriving metropolis of Ventucopa, population 92--according to the sign on the highway.

Somewhere between the mountain pass and Ventucopa, it dawned on me that it did not really matter where I went, I would still be there. I did not even have time to get the "Well duh" out when the following thought rushed in. Nothing is ever going to be right until I am right.

The reason I even needed the road trip is because I had been a little self-absorbed. I felt as though my life had hit a dead end. What I had long wanted to do is not working at this point. Without that working, I did not see how God is going to accomplish any greater good through my life. It mostly seems like I am just spinning my wheels. My real problem at the time was, I could not even find anyone else to blame.

Sometime I might yet write the book, "The 8 Faces of Pride." The Holy Spirit gave me that title over twenty years ago. I still do not even know what all eight of them are. One of them, however, is what Charles Shoemake at LIFE Bible College taught me many years ago as, "the pride of the worm." That is the one represented in the previous paragraph. We might sum it up as, "It is all about poor me." I have no doubt some of you had already counted the "I, me, and mys" in that paragraph and figured it out so that is for the rest of us.

To wrap this up, as I was whining to the Lord about the dead end that was all I could see, He reminded me of Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." I was still meditating on that when I arrived home. I opened my email to see a message with a sermon attached entitled, "God Has a Plan for You." The first person to mount the platform after worship at church this morning started what she had to say by quoting Matthew 6:25, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?" Does anyone else see a pattern here? It only takes me two or three times hearing the same thing in different ways to get a message. Well, that is usually all it takes. I will let you know when this all resolves. God bless. 

I Might Be Onto Something Here

I am not quite prepared to say, "Eureka" or claim to have had an epiphany yet. I am still scratching at it, praying about it, meditating on it. As always you can let me know what you think via comments to this post. They always get published, unedited, in their entirety. Drumroll please.

The reason the grace of God often is not at work in our lives is that we do not let it work. That is it. Simple really. In order for grace to work in our lives we must yield to it, allow it the chance to work. To the contrary, the human condition, the sin nature, the needing to have things be happening all the time, compels us to circumvent the working of grace by getting involved  in and aborting the process.

A good friend of mine has been heard to refer to Christians' desire for things to happen as "microwave Christianity." That goes right along with, "God give me patience, and give it to me now." That is not the way it works. Gaining patience is a process. First there is the tribulation, then the patience. (Romans 5:1-5)

There was a television commercial when I was a child (that is long enough ago that most of you will not remember it) that asserted, "Paul Masson will sell no wine before its time." Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, "To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven." Just as wine takes time to ferment and attain its full body and flavor, grace works little by little in accomplishing God's purposes in and through His people.

Just as Jesus performed His first miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee when He changed water into wine, (John 2:1-11) God is able to cause His grace to work instantaneously. In fact, many times it looks to the observer as though grace came upon someone quickly. That is because the observer does not know when the process began or how long it actually took. Someone remarked to Kenneth Copeland that his ministry had taken off overnight. His response was that if that were true, it was the longest night in recorded history.

One does not have to read far into new reports or watch very much television news to know there are a lot of people experiencing greater tribulation than they ever have. We consider that a bad thing for the most part, but ponder this: if tribulation does indeed work patience, with the ultimate result being a greater hope in God, is not tribulation a good thing? That is not to say we should enjoy tribulation (sorry James).

Tribulation comes because we are not who God wants us to be. The proper attitude would be to embrace the tribulation that we are involved in to discover what the lessons are. That is no small task. We do have the Word of God and the fellowship of the saints to assist with that. Often when we cannot see what God is doing in our lives, others can. We typically pray the wrong prayers. We ask God to shorten the tribulation rather than asking Him to give us the grace to see the situation as it is and to make the necessary course corrections. When we have done that, the tribulation has worked correctly. We want to cut the process, but cutting the process also means we do not learn the lesson.

Please be encouraged to, "...let patience have its perfect work..." (James 1:4) God bless!

What Ever Happened to Expository Preaching

"For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)  

Granted it was a long time ago when we attended Bible college. At that time, we were told in homiletics class, approximately 80% of preaching should be expository. Expository preaching broadly means to expound or explain the meaning of Bible verses. We were taught and encouraged to study the Bible in such a way as to be able to understand and teach the meanings of the verses under consideration according to their original intent. To that end we took basic Hebrew and Greek classes and studied the scriptures diligently. Expository preaching was, we were told, to be preferred to either textual or topical sermons.

We are at a loss to remember the last expository sermon we heard. This is not an indictment against any particular church as we have been to many different churches recently. Expository preaching seems to have been lost in the race to be relevant somewhere in the past few decades. In the church's haste to be relevant in society, we seem to have lost sight of the concept that the Bible has been and is always relevant. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16) Speaking of Timothy, he was told to, "Preach the word..." (2 Timothy 4:2), not "Tell the people what you think."

The mode du jour for preaching seems to be the topical sermon. The preacher chooses a topic, from daily life or from the Bible, and searches out other Bible verses to validate his or her opinion on the topic at hand. Interestingly, we have had weeks when the Holy Spirit has put things together in such a way, that we have heard a recurring theme several times in the same week. These occurrences have come via Sunday sermons, Bible studies, morning devotionals, and materials that have been given to us personally. That kind of thing cannot be all bad. So what is the big deal about expository preaching if the Holy Spirit is weaving together topics that Christians should know? Were our college professors wrong? Perhaps expository preaching has simply run it's course and is no longer relevant?

Review the scripture verses in italics above. Now let us look at what they do NOT say. Neither of them says anything remotely resembling "The word of the Sunday morning speaker, small group leader or Bible study teacher." Nor do they include writers of devotionals, books about the Bible, etc. God is the sole author of truth. Any truth that is spoken, written or taught is simply a reiteration of His truth.
It probably would not be so bad that we have done away with expository preaching, but most churches have also done away with Sunday School and have replaced Bible studies with "fellowship groups" under whatever name they have chosen for them. Not having either of those times of teaching the Bible has created a generation of Christians that is largely ignorant of basic, Bible doctrines (teachings) and their application to daily life. As a result, there is little sound, consistent doctrine throughout the church. Many Christians believe anything they hear from a pulpit on Sunday morning because they to not have the understanding and discernment to know whether the preacher is telling them the truth.

Most all preachers endeavor to tell the truth, and even go to the Bible to validate their version of it. A large percentage of the time they are correct, but the times they are not could mean the difference between spirit and soul, truth and error, life and death, heaven and hell. (Sorry to be quite so blunt there.) This is why Christians generally do no better at living the zoe, the God kind of life, than do unbelievers. That is also why The Church in Santa Maria has failed to recognize the insidious affects of the religious spirit that rules in this valley. As Pastor Jack Hayford has often said, "A diluted Gospel has produced deluded Christians."

I am guessing I probably get a C for effort in shortening these posts. Still some room for improvement there. I am working on improving that mark and still saying everything I am hearing. God bless!

Where Have All the Worship Leaders Gone

I have been challenged by two different people to shorten the posts to this blog. This is the first attempt at doing that. We will see how it goes.

Jesus said, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." (John 4:23)

Somewhere in the past dozen or so years, most churches seem to have lost the concept of what a worship leader is and does. We could just keep this simple and say a worship leader leads worship. That is probably too simple. It implies we understand what worship is. Most people, it seems, do not know the difference between "praise" and "worship." The difference is critical if we want to truly worship God. Praise is a function of the soul. Worship is a spiritual activity.

We have usually called the time we are in the church building, doing things together, worship. To the contrary, worship is the time when we are one on one with God, in spirit, no distractions, no disruptions. We cannot really worship "with" other people. We can worship in the same place (body), at the same time, and even do the same things, (soul). To truly worship, we must move into the spirit and be alone with God.

In any church service there are three different groups of people. One group does not need any help to worship. Tell them it is time to worship and they begin. The second group, knows about worship and has experienced it on some level, but they need to be helped, to be led, into the presence of God. The third group has no idea what worship is about. They have to be taught whatever cannot be caught during the worship time. Even when they catch onto what is going on, many find it helpful to be given the whys of those things.

A worship leader has a sole purpose when he or she is standing before an assembly. That is to lead each person into the presence of the Almighty. It stands to reason then, that the worship leader must know how to move into the spirit himself or herself. However, simply playing an instrument and/or holding a microphone while worshiping on stage is not leading worship.

Some people think the worship leader has to have superior musical abilities. Seven times in the Psalms we are encouraged to, "make a joyful noise" not "be excellent in music." The truth is that average musical abilities will suffice if the worship leader is able to bring people to the door of the most holy place and then get out of the way so each person can stand face to face with God.

We have visited a number of churches of late and have found it difficult to move past the distractions of cumbersome, wordy songs that most of the congregation finds difficult to sing. It is often as though the person or group on the platform has no idea the difficulty of the songs gets in the way of worship. We used to attend a church where the worship leader had decidedly average musical abilities. Yet somehow, he managed to lead people into the presence of God on a weekly basis, and sometimes mid-week as well. Conversely, there are many very talented musicians and song leaders who simply cannot make the move from soul to spirit to truly lead worship.

All we do here is attempt to stimulate people and churches to better and greater things, hoping that in so doing we will not be a hindrance to the work of the Gospel and the removal of the religious spirit. Should any of these concepts resonate with your spirit, make the necessary changes. Ultimately we members of Christ's body will all come to unity of the faith. (Ephesians 4:13) God bless!

Now This is Interesting

I am just realizing, I do not even want to write this post. It could offend a lot of people. I guess we will just let that be my disclaimer. Now you can decide if you want to continue reading.

This is the post I warned you was coming. Well, maybe it is just the first of several. I just did not think it would take this long to actually get it finished and published. It is another one of those things I knew I knew, but had no idea why and did not have the statistics to back it up. (In re-reading, I think I might have pulled this off without being as offensive as I thought I might be. Of course, you will have to decide that for yourself.)

"The Left prefers top-down central planning by a bureaucrat in Washington. OUR strategy is to maintain the decentralized nature of this leaderless grassroots movement. Freedom is our strategy, because freedom works." Matt Kibbe, President of FreedomWorks

Facebook is an amazing invention. That is where I found the above quote. I did not even know there was an organization called FreedomWorks until I saw it on a friend's page. I could not help thinking how closely the concept the Left prefers, according to Kibbe, aligns with the way we usually do church. Since you are still reading, despite my disclaimer, get your toes off the floor now if you do not want them stepped on. Do not say I did not warn you.

Kibbe is advocating less government. Less government equals more control of our individual lives and destinies. This writer does not understand how fewer people telling me what to do can be a bad thing. To be sure it is a wonderful thing to have people and resources to help us meet the challenges of life, but think library. One either goes to the library to find help when needed or does not--that is his or her own choice. No one tells anyone to visit a library. Lest you argue that, but for the government, we would not have libraries, that is simply not true. There are thousands of private libraries in this country. The internet is still free, at least for the time being. My sources tell me there will shortly be a power-grab by the federal government to regulate the net.

When I first saw the quote, I immediately thought of Galatians 5:1, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." and 1 Corinthians 14:26, "How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification."  We have already discussed the latter verse in these pages so suffice it to say, if would appear we really do not do "church" very well, according to scripture, in this country.

Add to the previous remarks that yours truly has been reading  the book Grace, by Lewis Sperry Chafer and has been truly enlightened as to a lot of things we do routinely that serve to take us out from under the covering of God's grace and place us back under the law. Just another word on that, we have had that book sitting in our library probably the whole 35 years of our marriage. I even tried to read it a couple times, but apparently it was over my head, because I never did get very far into it. That is a painful admission since Dr. Chafer is theologically, diametrically opposed to me in some major areas.
  
According to the Gallup organization, approximately 17% of the United States population was employed by the government in August of 2010. 17% of everyone in the country receives his or her paycheck directly from the government. (Well wait, whose are only the ones working. I have not even seen statistics as to the number of people who are not working, but receive government checks of one kind or another.) It also does not include people who work on contracts that are funded by the government. Is it any wonder our taxes are as high as they are? Now, if you are not a government employee and want to be really disgusted consider one other statistic. The average federal government employee earns salary and benefits equal to more than twice the amount of compensation those working in the private sector earn. You are probably wondering by now if there is a point to all this. I was wondering that myself. I had to quit writing for awhile to discerne what that point is.

Drum-roll please. The point is very simple really. Whenever we depend on someone else to "pay our bills" we have limited the resources available to us and our ability to do what God tells us to do. I have already asked all the questions about that you are asking now. You will have to answer them for yourself. The point is that we have had it so ingrained into our culture and our minds that we have to have a consistent income and someone else writing us a check that we have compartmentalized our lives into soulical (work/law) and spiritual (faith/grace). The ironic thing about this is, it flies in the face of common sense and knowledge. Let me explain what I mean by that.

One of my best friends is a professional. He is the best I have ever known in his particular field. He considers his work his ministry to hurting people. He is not what most would consider wealthy by any means, but he earns more money than many other people I know. The point is, he writes his own paycheck. The money comes primarily from "services rendered" doing what he believes God has called him to do. Were God to tell him to do something, anything, different on any given day, at any given time, he would undoubtedly do it. He has the freedom to do that because he is not depending on anyone to write him a check at the end of the week. By the way, I write him a check on something of a regular basis.

Consider this question. (No worries, it is rhetorical and very simple.) Does God have more money than I do? So if my friend performs services for me--and many other people--and has an ample supply of resources, does it not make sense that if one were serving God, he or she would have at least ample resource? Again, that is a rhetorical question. It does not even require an answer.

At some point all these posts have to come to an end. I am in something of a quandary here. These posts are getting uglier and uglier--and I suspect they are going to get even uglier. That is not really an apology as much as it is an insight. From the first word of the first post, this blog was intended to make people aware of the affects of the religious spirit that hangs like the marine layer over the Santa Maria valley, keeping a lid on The Church. It is now becoming more clear that spirit is more pervasive than I had ever thought. For those of you who do not give up when things get difficult to understand or seem overwhelming, your continued reading and support is appreciated. God bless!

Narcissism and the Professional Ministry

That title sort of makes it sound like this is going to be some kind of psychological treatise. Not to worry. Some of you probably thought we had passed from this life or at least discontinued writing in this space. Nothing could be further from the truth. August was an interesting month in many respects and we are still processing some of the more cogent aspects.

Early August brought the opportunity to travel to Brookings, OR to visit some college classmates, many of whom had been meeting together for the past few years that same weekend. The trip itself was relatively uneventful, and it was a nice drive up through the redwoods to Brookings. Words fail me to explain what it was like seeing people we had little or no real contact with for over thirty years. (Most of you know when words fail me, it was something special.) Because many of the participants were a year or more behind yours truly graduating from college, I even met one couple, in addition to the hostess, for the first time. The host, Mark Gibbs and I had grown up here in Santa Maria, but since we went to different high schools, we did not really know each other until college.

Now that we have dealt with the prefatory remarks, we can address the reason for this post. You know how you know things, but you either do not know you know them or you do not know they are relevant? I had one of those things come up during a discussion in Brookings. (The plan is to tell you about another one in the next post.) I was not even participating in the discussion, but happened into the room and sat down at the table at exactly the right time. Gayle Samples, PhD, and head of the counseling department at LIFE Pacific College was asked about something she had said earlier regarding pastors in general having issues with narcissism. (If you are unfamiliar with the term, better that you look it up now than that we take the space to discuss it here.)

Dr. Samples explained that when one gives careful consideration to pastoral ministry (and we could include apostles, prophets, and evangelists here) we must consider what kind of person seeks public ministry. Please do not take this as a general indictment against professional clergymen and women. However, the shoe does fit much better than many would admit or imagine. Who wants to stand in front of an audience (okay, congregation) week after week, often multiple times a week, and put themselves, their lives, and their knowledge on display? That is not a rhetorical question, but neither is it one we are going to answer specifically here. It is interesting, though, that we frequently consider actors and actresses, and sometimes politicians to be narcissistic when they do very similar things.

I have to tell you, there was a time when I spoke more to the applause of people than the adulation of God. That began to change perhaps some fifteen years ago when, in prayer, Jesus reminded me of  Matthew 7:22-23. "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you...'" I believe my response was something like, "Yes, those poor people who thought they were doing the right thing and found out too late they were not." The response was bone-chilling. "You are very close to being one of those people."

Upon further consideration, I realized that most of what I had been doing, I had been doing because I enjoyed it, it made me feel good, and drew the praise and respect of the people around me. Obviously, that is not the case anymore. It would be much easier to not continue to write about the religious spirit in the Santa Maria valley and point out some of its manifestations. So far this has not gained me any respect, admiration, praise, or favor from men. To the contrary, my life was very literally turned upside-down because of what some people found "disturbing" in these pages. Or maybe it was turned right-side up? Time will tell. I do, however, have peace with God. I hope you do too.

Half a Bubble Shy of Plumb

As an wannabe writer, I love language. I have always been impressed with the way real writers string words together in ways other people do not. Each writer has his or her own "style" which is unique, but the common thread is they write things in ways most of us do not. Perhaps it was a writer who coined the phrase, "Half a bubble shy of plumb" to refer to someone else who he considered to be a little off. Or maybe the saying became part of American, idiomatic, rhetoric after it was overheard on a construction site. Either way the phrase has come to be a reference to some thought or action that is not quite right. It might refer to another person's perspective on the whole of life, or any specific part of it.

We have all known people who we consider to be half a bubble shy of plumb. Believe it or not, there are those who are convinced I am about half a bubble shy of plumb. Please take a little self-test. Re-read the second sentence of this paragraph and give your response a number from the list below:

1. That is silly. You are one of the few people I know who is thinking straight.
2. You may be half a bubble off, but I am right there with you.
3. Only half a bubble?
4. I have no opinion/the jury is still out.

Thank you for your participation in our survey today. Not being a psychologist, I cannot tell you what your response indicates except to say, it will give some indication of your motives for reading this blog.

No one is always wrong, just as no one is always right. In the good old U.S. of A. we officially do not believe that "Might makes right." I say "officially" because several people, with warped ideas of spiritual authority, have attempted to threaten, intimidate, cajole, coerce, or figuratively beat me into doing what they thought I should do. I found recently that I simply do not suffer bullies well. ("suffer" is from the old English which means to allow or tolerate. That is the way the thought came into my mind. What can I say?) There was a time when I thought anyone who disagreed with me was wrong. I am pretty much past that now. Disagreement is healthy. The problem is most of us do not know how to, "Disagree agreeably" as one of my college professors put it. So, when we have a disagreement, we often use whatever power we have to separate ourselves from the person with whom we do not agree. The bully's mantra is, "My way or the highway." Incidentally, the religious spirit works through that attitude to maintain its authority. The thing about being bullied is, God does not work that way. In fact the very least one can expect when being bullied is for the Lord to raise up a standard against the bully. (Isaiah 59:19) Remember we never fight against flesh and blood. (Ephesians 6:12) By the way, the best we can expect in those situations is for God to make us more than conquerors. (Romans 8:37)

I had a conflict with a former pastor. Well, I guess I should say he had a conflict with me. It took me a very long time to even realize there was a problem. I hold a Master's degree from a Seminary and he does not. This was a problem for him. He mentioned it, more than once in public settings. (I was going to elaborate on that, but you all are smart enough to know that proves my point, without any elaboration.) Toward the end of the time that was going on, a conflict developed with my supervisor at work. His problem seemed to be that more people liked me than liked him. I cannot give you concrete evidence on that one, but I could give you a few names of people who thought that was the case.

Jack Hayford wrote in, Prayer Is Invading the Impossible, "In every area of human endeavor, whether it be science or history or mathematics, the expertise of the professional is acknowledged, until it comes to Theology. Then everyone is an expert." (If anyone has an original edition of that book with that quote in it, I would appreciate having it. I know I am off by a few words there.) Untrained and uneducated experts in any field of human endeavor are often inclined to do whatever they need to in order to present themselves as adequate. Then again, is that not the way it is with anything human? I read just yesterday about a pre-teen boy who picked fights with boys older than himself just because he could. He did say he almost always lost.

I took a day off yesterday and drove out toward the desert alone. I do that sometimes. It gives me the ability to refocus, refresh, and re-evaluate. In this case it also gave me the opportunity go get away from the stress and the stifling affects of the religious spirit and be a little more free to hear what the Holy Spirit had to say to me. You just read part of the result. More to come. God bless.

I Hate When That Happens

Saturday mornings are supposed to be a little more laid back than the previous five days. That usually works pretty well, when I am able to decide what to do--if anything. Well, as you might imagine from those opening sentences, one recent Saturday did not start out to be one of those.


Those who know me, know I am simply not musical. I always wanted to be, but it seems the Lord left out the artistic bone, or organ, or allele on whichever chromosome it is supposed to be that controls such things. Often, however, the Holy Spirit has caught my attention with a song. Saturday morning a couple weeks ago, music was playing in my head. Mind you, this was not a song I had heard recently that stuck in my mind. Most of you are not even old enough to remember Joni Mitchell, whose most famous song was "Both Sides Now." Here is a hint on the time frame of the song. She sang it live on "The Johnny Cash Show" in 1970. I cannot remember the last time I heard it. I know I had heard it sometime because I recognized it when I heard it this time. I suppose it has been over thirty years ago since the last time I heard it. Bing Crosby is singing the song on YouTube as these words are typed. I have no idea who was singing it that Saturday morning. It was not Joni, Bing, or any of the other half dozen or so people who have sung it for me on YouTube in the past week. It was, however, being sung with full orchestration as though I were hearing it live or at least in surround sound, except that I was alone in the room and there was not any music playing anywhere except in my head.

My hope is that by typing that account into the computer, the Holy Spirit might help me understand what the lesson is here. If this does not work, perhaps one of those of you who have greater, spiritual insight than I do can assist me.

If I have learned anything from Leroy Jethro Gibbs on "NCIS," it is that coincidences are few and far between. We have previously quoted Harold Hill's definition of coincidence from his book "How To Live Like a King's Kid." He writes that "Coincidence is when God performs a miracle and chooses to remain anonymous." I know the Holy Spirit is trying to give me some direction, some guidance, or possibly even some correction, but I am at a loss as to what that might be. Normally, I would just sit on this until I could tell you the finished story, but somehow this seems too important to do that. Perhaps this is even a lesson in community as in the group working together to understand the mind of God? That kind of sounds like something we might have learned in the previous post. I know I could use a little help here.

It has been a couple weeks now since I heard the song. I have listened to it and sung it and meditated on the words, literally day and night. I still have no idea what the significance is for me. If you read back a few posts, you may remember the description of a vision of Jesus putting a seed into my hand. I am still wondering about that as well. Somewhere, somehow, sometime, this is all going to come together. The sooner the better. Post your comments here, call me, or see me in person. God has something great in store. I just cannot put my finger on exactly what it is right now. Can anyone out there help?

How It Should Be--Lessons From "Remeniscences"

1 Corinthians 14:26 reads, "How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification."  Apparently, there was no shortage of ministry going on when the Corinthian church met together. In fact, they were encouraged to be orderly in their services, but not discouraged from participating.

There are lots of verses of scripture that are overlooked, disregarded, or simply ignored throughout the Bible. Perhaps none has been more so in the North American church than this one. We have a class of professional clergy and those whom they have approved, that carry the public ministry during any kind of meeting. The stronger the influence of the religious spirit in a congregation, the more control will be exercised by the fewer people. (That hurt.) Trust me when I tell you, I know all the rationalizations for not letting the Holy Spirit direct church meetings. (That really hurt.) By the way, that also includes church-sponsored, small, group meetings where the powers that be in the church, assemble, approve, and assign the curriculum and the teachers. (That probably hurt too.)

Surely there is a place for the kind of meetings we call "church" that we have come to expect on any given Sunday morning or evening, Wednesday evening, perhaps Thursday or Saturday evening, or whenever. That particular model does facilitate a number of people hearing a sermon simultaneously, but does little to facilitate fellowship or individual ministry. We actually heard a local pastor state recently that fellowship does not occur during their "church" services. He was correct, of course. We applaud him for that understanding.

We attended a church for years that set aside time in virtually every service for people to meet and pray with those around them. As one might imagine, there were many criticisms of that practice over the years. Most of those criticisms came from people who wanted to hear the teaching of a world-renowned minister of the gospel, but did not want to interact with other people. I might have been one of them at one time, but I got over it around the time another couple prayed with us about a financial need and then handed us $150.00 in cash to meet that need as we were leaving the building at the end of the service.

Acts chapter 13 begins with these words, "Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away." (verses 1-3)

These verses seem to indicate some kind of small-group, men's, gathering that had a specific purpose. We realize many people do not recognize the office of the prophet in the church today. Too bad. You are missing out on an important ministry. Nonetheless, this explanation is probably not for you anyway. Their purpose for meeting seems to be to hear what God had to say to the group gathered there. Is that not what "church" is supposed to be about anyway? My recent experience is that "church" usually does little to foster fellowship and perhaps less to help us hear what God has to say. We really should be able do better with our corporate experiences in facilitating fellowship and hearing from God. Otherwise we are spending way to much money on facilities, creature comforts, and paid staff for the return we receive. Feeling good is really not what church is supposed to be about, but how many people consider that the primary reason for attending?

Folks, we are simply putting our emphasis on the wrong things in The Church today. We mistake our soulical pursuits of getting together, singing a few songs, and listening to a sermon, for true, spiritual worship and fellowship. Those last two, by the way, are the essence of our vertical and horizontal, spiritual relationships. Let this be an encouragement to you to find a group where you can be a part of those vital elements of the Christian life. Your life will change and so will the lives of the others who join with you. God bless you and guide you as you do.

Remeniscences

The late Dr. Howard P. Courtney was one of the unforgettable characters in the Foursquare organization. The last time we saw him, he was well into his eighties. According to my best information, he lived to be 98 years old. At that last, chance meeting, Dr. Courtney told my wife and me that, at his age, most of his ministry was being carried on by the hundreds of men and women he had taught and trained in his earlier years. This writer is now old enough to perhaps understand a part of what Dr. Courtney was talking about.

Last week, I was sort of invited--sort of invited myself--to join a couple men with whom we had some ministry experiences over twenty years ago. One was a member of a group we led; the other our assistant leader in another group. I found out they had been meeting on a regular basis for fellowship. It was delightful to join them. We had a great time for almost two hours as we all caught up on each others lives and ministries. The meeting was a divine appointment, but for different reasons than I might have thought.

Our meeting broke up when a father and daughter sat down across the room. One of men recognized the daughter as a student at the school where he teaches. He wanted to go and greet her. I recognized the father as a man I had met a couple other times so I went over to re-introduce myself. I remembered that he was a musician, but could not even remember his name. As it happens, the members of the therapeutic community have been praying that someone would come along who would be willing, and able, to lead some worship at our Saturday evening gatherings. I would like to tell you that I immediately asked this man if he would consider being that person. I often have to do things the most difficult way possible. This was no exception.

I left the restaurant and was about halfway home before it occurred to me the man I had happened across might be the answer to our prayers. Of course, I did not have a way to contact him nor did I even know his last name. A quick call to our common friend did not help, although he did say he would try and find a telephone number--and he gave me a last name. Facebook to the rescue. I looked him up on Facebook and sent a message, asking him to call me. He did. I invited him over for a conversation, presented my idea, and he seemed eager to accept the challenge. He starts Saturday, June 18, 2011 as the Lord allows. He actually committed, on a trial basis, for a few weeks to be sure it is the right thing for him.

I spent way too much of my time, in my earlier years, waiting for someone to recognize my talents and offer me a ministry position. I actually thought I needed someone other than Jesus to do that. To be just a little charitable with myself, my only real misunderstanding there was thinking the "ministry" entailed a title, like pastor or director of Christian education, and a salary. I love teaching. I love the look on student's faces when they get it. Were it not for the organizational powers that be wanting me to give up part of my teaching ministry to serve tables (Acts 6:2), I would probably still have a title and a salary.

Teaching at the rescue mission was a delight, but there is much more real ministry going on around me now, and there is more to come in the near future. (Do not ask me what I am talking about here. I really have no idea. I had to admit to our new worship leader that we are really not sure what we are doing. Should I be concerned that he understood what I meant?)

We sometimes have grandiose ideas of what "ministry" means. God has a ministry for each one of us to fulfill. In fact, we are the only person who can fill that particular ministry. God did not build a lot of redundancy into The Church. We are not interchangeable parts. As my good friend, James Baxter says, "We are all individuals. We are not just parts of a group."

When we look back on our lives, we probably have done nothing the world will remember. There are, however, perhaps even hundreds of people who believe their lives are better for having walked this sod with us for some season in their lives. The number of those who have received eternal life as a result of our ministry is probably into three figures anyway. I just realized that could sound like we are done, or at least winding down. Not a chance. In fact, I believe I heard the Holy Spirit say this morning that my best days are still ahead. Bring them on Lord!

It has taken so long to finish this post that Ray (the worship leader mentioned above) has already debuted. It was great! He made a difference in the meeting with his voice, his guitar, his sense of worship, and his very presence. Something great is beginning to happen here. Something great can happen where you are too. The only advice we can give is the same advice Christians have been giving to new Christians down through the ages. Read your Bible to get to know God. Pray to find out what He is saying to you, and fellowship with like-minded believers so we can all grow together in the love and life of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. God bless.

Something is Making Me Sick

It appears to be allergy season all over the country. I hear from my Facebook friends that people everywhere are dealing with the effects of allergies. I have been kind of "blah" all week for the same reason. In pondering the situation, and looking over the recent posts on my Facebook wall, something else came to mind.

Every time I think about denominations, exclusivity, or haughtiness in the church, my stomach feels a little queasy. That seems especially interesting in view of the fact that one of my fiercest supporters recently sent a link to a 33 page document on the python spirit. If you are not familiar with that spirit, you can see its manifestation in Acts 16 beginning in verse 16. The word translated "divination" in that verse is literally "python" in Greek. One of the interesting things about the python spirit, the author alleges, is that it is almost always found in connection with a spirit of haughtiness. Without going into a lot of detail, the python spirit hides in the darkness of our deceitfulness, dishonesty, and unrepented sin. We are all subject to its wiles.

Words mean things. If you are not familiar with the true definition of "haughtiness" use this one. Disdainfully proud, snobbish. That is from Dictionary.com. Or maybe you prefer to simply think of a haughty attitude as one that says, "I know better than you do." Of course for that to display haughtiness it would have to not be true. In other words, the person who says they know better (or more) than you do, would have to be wrong. There is always someone who knows better or knows more than we do. A large part of humility is acceptance of that fact.

A practice of mine over the past several years, when confronted with a statement or doctrine that does not sound quite right, is to assume the other person simply knows something I do not. That statement mostly refers to things theological, although one might suppose it could be applied to most anything. A good guess would be that, on average, half those things that sound odd probably are. That still leaves plenty of room to learn from people who might also seem a little odd.

In reading the 33 page document referenced above, it was obvious that the writer was either, a) being shown a revelation by the Holy Spirit, or b) completely out of his mind. Please keep in your mind that quoting scripture to support false doctrine is a favorite ploy of anyone who seeks to deceive. 2 Corinthians 11:14 reminds us that Satan himself will come as an angel of light. Of course then we also have to remind ourselves our warfare is not against flesh and blood beings. It is against spiritual forces. (Ephesians 6:12)

In case you are not putting all this together, if we see haughtiness in someone, we are really seeing a manifestation of the python spirit. This is deception in the most basic sense of the word. The person manifesting this spirit has no idea what the cause of his or her haughty attitude might be. A quick note here. It is much easier to see attitudinal problems in other people than in ourselves. In fact, attributing attitudes to other people is exactly what Jesus was speaking against when He said, "Judge not, that you be not judged, 'For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.'" (Matthew 7:1-2)

As with all spirits, the python spirit dwells in darkness. Yes, this blog is dedicated to demolishing the strongholds a religious spirit has erected in this valley. However, while the religious spirit is controlling the territory, we have to suspect the python spirit is affecting individuals who are unwittingly in league with the religious spirit. Perhaps that aids in understanding what must be done to break the power of the religious spirit, if not exactly how to go about it. Hey, keep in mind we see in part as does everyone else. As more information and a distinct strategy for our warfare is revealed we will certainly pass it along. In the meantime, we need to take some personal responsibility to get ourselves right rather than worrying about what is going on with our friends, neighbors, and other people with whom we associate. We do not want to make it all about us, but we are not going to be able to work change in anyone else anyway, so inside our skin is the place to concentrate our efforts. We must resist the urge to fix anyone else as long as there are things we need to fix in ourselves. "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:12-13) There is a lot more to that passage than is usually taught. Maybe one day we can get into that. God bless!

Serendiptious Coincidences, Part 2

One of the things about writing a blog is that one sometimes runs out of space before finishing the subject at hand. I have also been accused of writing too much in each post. The man who made that criticism also implied that he and his associates have a better idea of what God was calling me to do than I do. I assume you can tell, that did not slow us down too much.

In the first part of this message, we mentioned hearing Tom Demaree speak in a Sunday morning service at a local church. His message for the morning, at the pastor's request, centered around the joy of leading people to Jesus. He used an acrostic for the word "harvest" as his outline. Obviously we do not have room to detail that teaching here. It was a good message. I even took notes, which is unusual in itself. I have never been a great note-taker so when I take notes I often miss the next thing that is said. It seems easier to just listen carefully in the first place.

T0m is a man who carries a prophetic calling. He does not make an issue of it. He simply goes about the work God has called him to do. He did mention during his teaching for the morning that God has given him favor in different places and he told of some of the things he has done and will do should Jesus tarry. He said favor is better than talent. Tom is also a man most of us would consider to be gifted. His intelligence gained him scholarships to study medicine at the University of California, but he decided medicine was not what he wanted for his life's work. Shortly thereafter, he talked to a record producer who wanted to sign him to a contract. He nixed that idea as well. I do not know about you, but I do not even think in terms of that kind of intellect and talent.

To shorten the story just a bit, Tom was born-again shortly after declining the record contract. One of the very first things he was told to do as a Christian, was to call a woman he knew, in the wee hours of the morning, to tell her Jesus loved her. He tried to talk himself out of it, but was unsuccessful. He made the call sometime after 3:00 AM as she was about to swallow a lethal dose of sleeping pills. (Are you kidding me?) That is the stuff devotionals and those sweet, viral emails are made of.

When the pastor dismissed the service, I had to make a pit stop so I excused myself. When I returned to the sanctuary, I was not at all surprised to find my wife, face-to-face, and engaged in conversation with Tom. I joined the conversation which went on for ten minutes or more, with us standing in the sanctuary, between services. I cannot go into great detail about all he told us, but he did give us confirmations about what we are doing in challenging the religious spirit in the Santa Maria Valley. (Which is the whole basis for this blog.) He noted there is a discernible difference in the spiritual climate on either side of the river that divides Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. (We were standing in San Luis Obispo county at the time.) He mentioned instances where he had personally seen the differences manifested in church leadership.

Of course I have no idea what it means to you when someone confirms for you that you are indeed on the right path. It nearly brought tears to my eyes. (Well, okay, they got moist, but we were in church in a face-to-face conversation so I choked them back.) It is especially meaningful when many others are not so quick to agree and even less than congenial in their relationships toward you because of your calling.

I did not even know I needed confirmation, but the Holy Spirit recently caused me to see the reality of the situation. The people the Lord has drawn around me are specifically here because they believe in the mission we are on. They are as convinced as I am that God has ordained and is leading it. In my spirit, I know I have the favor of God and according to a word He gave me over twenty years ago, it is beginning to manifest. To have a confirmation now and again, from someone outside the situation, is a blessed thing--whether I feel as though I need it or not.

Serendipitous Coincidences

In the previous post, we discussed a chat on Face Book that we considered to be almost random. I particularly enjoy randomness. We all have stories of things that just seemed to happen out of nowhere and for no apparent reason. We variously refer to them with words such as chance, luck, good fortune, serendipity or coincidence, among others. The question is, are they really any of those things?

Let us quote a couple world-class Theologians as we begin this discussion. The late Dr. Harold in his 1974 book, How to Live Like a King's Kid defines coincidence as, "When God performs a miracle and chooses to remain anonymous." Television detective Barnaby Jones, played by Buddy Ebsen, said, "I find the harder I work, the luckier I get." Of course we see the truth in both those statements, but again, do things really just happen or is there a creative intelligence behind everything? We choose to believe the latter. That, is in no way, intended to advance the idea that we do not have a part in what happens in our lives and in the lives of those we touch as we tread this sod. It is interesting that, depending on which translation of the Bible one is using, either case can almost be made.

Romans 8:28 tells us, "And we know all things work together for good..." (KJV), or "And we know that in all things God works for the good..." (NIV) The first translation almost suggests randomness while the second shows God actively working. The position one takes on this point will determine how one's life is lived. One either goes about life hoping God will be working everything out or lives life intentionally partnering with God in doing His work. The second position here is the one that demonstrates Jesus is Lord of one's life rather than simply an actor in it. This is a critical distinction because Jesus said, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." (John 14:21) If we want to experience God in our lives, we must do what He says.

Yesterday, we were deciding where we would attend Sunday services. Since we lead and teach on Saturday evenings, and since Jesus has not yet placed us in a local church, we have been fellowshipping at various different places on Sunday mornings. I had already decided where we should attend when I remembered they were having a different kind of service that I was not entirely thrilled to be a part of. My wife suggested another church which we had visited before. I was only slightly more thrilled to return there. My being less than thrilled had nothing to do with the fellowship, teaching, worship or the people at that church. I just doubt that is where we will be attending long-term.

Off we went. When we found our seats, we noticed the pastor was not the person wearing the microphone for the service. In fact, we recognized the man who was wearing it as Tom Demaree of Pentecost Walk fame. We had become acquainted with Tom and his wife Deanna when they were in the area leading a prayer walk. We have mentioned him previously in these pages. If you would like more information on Tom's ministry you can find some at www.pentecostwalk.org.

I have no doubt the pastor of that church would have delivered a good message, but we both knew we were in that service because Tom and Deanna were there. (Be sure to read the next post. We will mention a couple things Tom told us personally.) We were experiencing a serendipitous coincidence. I would have believed my wife had the mind of the Holy Spirit when she suggested we attend there, but for a statement I had heard Dr. Jack Hayford make many years ago. He said. "Everyone knows God cannot talk to you through your wife." (Need I tell you it was obviously a tongue-in-cheek remark? And by the way, so was the last one I made.)

One thing I have learned fairly recently is that we can do things intentionally or accidentally. There is a creative intelligence behind everything we perceive with our senses, and all the things we do not. Everything in the universe, from creation to the present, has been done with intention and purpose. Perhaps you have been "tossed around" (Ephesians 4:14; James 1:6) either by bad teaching, a lack of faith, or both. It is time for that to stop! If things are not going the way you would like, seek the wisdom of God to discover if you have either not been intentionally doing the right things or perhaps even intentionally doing the wrong things. Either of those will stifle your maturity, mitigate your growth, and reduce you to living a life where you do not recognize the hand of God at work. In short, you will not be able to live the abundant life Jesus promised you. (John 10:10) Any good things that happen will look like serendipitous coincidences.

What Normal Is

Last week, I caught up with a friend on Face Book. That in itself is not too out of the ordinary, and would not be top of the page news, since I do check for messages and updates there, usually more than once a day. It was what he said that seems to have stirred up something in the spirit.

This friend and his wife are dear, long-time friends who are leaving next week to return to the mission field in Brazil. In what I had thought to be a "random" thought process (I know, I know), I had been wondering about their finances. When I saw that he had his messenger on, I inquired about their finances and how the whole thing worked since they are part of a larger, sending organization. He assured me that 100% of the money received with their name on it goes into their personal account to keep them in the field. He invited me to send as much as I wanted to at anytime. (sic.) We have already been sending monthly support for their work, but I told him to let us know if they ever needed any extra. He said getting there is the most expensive part of the proposition and anything extra we could send would definitely be an answer to prayer. We have no problem being agents in answered prayer. I remarked that sometimes God has us run across each other, in what seem to be random instances, with larger plans in mind, than we even conceive. I am not sure what difference our gift will truly make in the overall scheme of things, but that is not the point. In fact the right time, right place scenario of our meeting on Face Book is not even the point.

The point really is what my friend said to me after I mentioned God had ordained our meeting. He said, "That is the way the ministry of the prophet works." I told him not to do that to me. I have no desire to be a prophet, at least not by office. Maybe I could prophesy here and there under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He went on to say that he has lived with a prophetess for over 40+ years, and he has. If you are not sure how I really feel about the implication I might be a prophet, go back on read, "Present Day, 5/25/09." My friend is a man of superlative, spiritual insight. I am not so sure about the other man who accused me. When he recognized himself while reading these pages, he objected to the choice of the word "accused." I assured him it was for rhetorical affect. Some people only hear what they want to hear and usually understand less than that.

The reason the time-stamp on this post is not something like 4:45 AM is that the power was out at that time and, of course, blogger does not work without an internet connection. I detest waking up at that time on Sunday morning. However, at least this time it was of benefit--I think. I was about half conscious when a picture appeared in my mind. I saw the hand of Jesus extended downward toward my hand which was open, palm up. It was a still picture, a snapshot. He had just placed a small seed (mustard seed?) on the palm of my hand. Although the picture was a snapshot, there was unspoken dialogue going on between us. He wanted to know if I were going to take His gift. I froze. I was sure I would take His gift, but I did not know what it was or what I was supposed to do with it. I hesitated to take something that I would not, could not use, but was also quite sure that He would not have given it to me without a purpose in mind. As the picture vanished, I had begun to close my hand around the seed.

I do apologize for keeping you in suspense, but I cannot tell you what that seed is at this time. When I can I will. I do mean "can." I do not know what the seed is, only that Jesus has given it to me. Many of you do not know this, but God has been multiplying my financial seed in tremendous ways lately. (I hesitate to use "miraculous" in this case, but some might see it as such. Is 60% in one week miraculous or just tremendous?) God gave me that seed and is multiplying it. Now I have another seed. As soon as I know what it is and what to do with it, I will let you know. In fact, depending on who you are and where you are you may be the first one to know. If that is the case, tell me so I can be the second, okay?

The End of the World

It certainly did not seem as though we had only published once this month. Where did the month go? Apparently we have not been as focused as we might have been. We had thought we would get at least one more post written before the world ended yesterday, but neither of those things happened. Whether you sincerely expected the end of the world, considered the possibility, or merely watched from a distance, there are things to learn from the whole experience.

God intends for us to hear Him every day. That is the essence of the present day ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said it was good that He go away because then the Holy Spirit would come. (John 16:7) The Holy Spirit would not be contained within a human body as Jesus was during His stay on earth, but would be available to all believers all the time. What many people do not understand as they read those words is that each member of the Godhead carries the primary work of God on earth individually in each epoch of history. This is a key concept in understanding why we are still here and why the predictions of the end of the world yesterday were errant.

All three members of the Trinity were present at creation. (Genesis 1:1,2; John 1:1) God the Father worked from the time of creation until Jesus took on flesh and assumed His earthly ministry. When Jesus returned to the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 8:1), The Holy Spirit began His ministry on earth. That ministry will continue until Jesus returns for His Church--at some still future time.

This whole concept of the world ending at 6:00 PM, May 21, 2011 started with the teachings of one man. Granted that man is nearly ninety years old and so should be regarded as an elder in the faith. As we waded and sifted through his aberrant teachings, there was one, common thread of error that might have prevented much of the problem. In case you missed the previous post to this blog, we gave some explanation of the problem of spiritual deception. The nutshell version is that anyone can be deceived. Age and experience are helpful in recognizing deception, but definitely do not completely prevent the problem. In fact, the people with the best spiritual insight are often the most susceptible to deception.

One of our areas of ministry has been the teaching of and distinction between the spirit and the soul. The teaching is too detailed to repeat here, but to begin with, the spirit and soul are completely different and separate from one another. (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12) The spirit is the God part of us. Its sole purpose is to put us into contact with God. This concept is much easier to understand when we realize the spirit enables contact with God just as our body enables contact with the world. (At least we think that makes it more simple to understand.) Meanwhile, the soul sits between the spirit and the body, processing all that spiritual and physical input through our mind and emotions and then deciding what to do about it by our will.

The concept of the end of the world on May 21, 2011 is a result of a series of mathematical calculations based on interpretations of various scriptural passages, as well as historical and Biblical dates. Guess what? It did not all come together as neatly as some expected. The reasons for this seem obvious. Somewhere in the collective mind (soul) of a group of sincere, but misguided people, a date, a verse of scripture, or a mathematical calculation was incorrect. We have all made mistakes and continue to do so. This one simply got out of hand, like an urban legend going viral on YouTube.

As recently as May 20th, I commented to a Facebook posting it seemed odd someone could say for certain the end of the world would come at a specific time on a specific date, but not be able to discern whether another person were born-again. In fact, most of the people who espoused the concept of the world's end yesterday, are not completely certain if they themselves have been born-again. My point, of course, is that interpretations, and calculations of historical dates are all soulical activities whereas spiritual discernment would enable us to know if we or any other person has been born-again--and when Jesus might return for us. The point is to live as though He could come back at any time.

I sort of wonder if part of the reason God does not want us to know when Jesus will get here is because we might stop doing what we are supposed to be doing. (Assuming were are doing what we should be doing now.) Worse yet, we could be like the Israelites in the wilderness who cast off restraint because Moses was so long in returning from his meeting with God on Mt. Sinai. (Exodus 32)

The people who embraced yesterday as the day the world would end were seduced and deceived. Many of them are sincerely seeking God for His will and His plan. For the time being, they have disqualified themselves as Holy Spirit-led individuals by believing a lie. Among other things, they were taught that the Holy Spirit left all the churches in 1994 because He apparently could not work with them anymore. My understanding is that was the fall back position when Jesus did not return then as predicted. I wonder what they will say this time? At this point I am tempted to quote my own proof texts, but that would probably serve little purpose. We are still here. We may be for awhile yet. Most of you have heard me say I do not do eschatology. Perhaps now you understand why.

Deception Knows No Bounds

I am a little sad this morning. Someone booted me from the TrueBeliever's group on Facebook and then blocked me so I could not be added in again. I am not taking it personally and I am not sad for myself. There are many good people in that group (which now numbers close to 600) with no assurance of their salvation. I explained to one person in a private message that it simply makes no sense to me that God would reveal the exact time of Jesus' return, but leave people wondering if He is coming back for them personally. My conclusion is that one of us is deceived.

There are two things that are ironic in their internal contradictions. One of them is ignorance and the other deception. By definition we cannot know what we do not know. Therefore, we cannot intentionally overcome ignorance. Deception, if anything, is worse. We have no idea where we might be being deceived. In fact, the deeper we go into deception, the greater the deception becomes. This, my dear friends and readers, is a major reason we need one another. Any of us can be deceived in any situation and have no idea we are. Let us explore this concept in some greater detail, with some possibly true-to-life scenarios.

Suppose we have a disagreement with a brother or sister regarding doctrine. One of my personal favorites is whether a Christian can have a demon. That does not come up much anymore because demons are not a very popular subject in most of the modern church. There are those who say a Christian cannot have a demon based on their understanding of 2 Corinthians 6:14 where Paul asks the rhetorical question, "And what communion has light with darkness?" The obvious problem here is that if our understanding is incorrect, if a Christian does have a demonic problem, there would be no solution because we cannot believe the problem really is demonically inspired. Our theology says a Christian cannot have a demon so there must be some other explanation. We could search for that explanation in vain as long as we tread this sod and never find the reason. Whenever our experience contradicts our theology, we should first question our theology.

Let us try another concept on for size. Suppose the problem is not theological in nature at all, but rather simply preference. People choose churches for any number of good or not so good reasons. Some choose a church because they like the music, others would not choose the same church because the music is too loud. Some people like good, solid, exegetical messages complete with references to the original languages while others are bored to tears by such teaching. People often choose a church because they are able to be involved in the ministry of that church and others choose a church where they do not have to be involved.

There really is only one reason to choose a church home. That is the clear direction of the Holy Spirit. When we make our choice for other reasons, we have already put ourselves on the proverbial "slippery slope." That is not to say we should expect to be at the same church for a lifetime. We can make the same mistake by staying too long in a place that we can make by leaving too soon--or not getting to the right place in the first place. Give the human resistance to change, we probably stay too long in places more often than we leave too early.

It would be heavenly if we always knew where we were to be and what we were to be doing. Unfortunately it is a matter of fact that we do not. That is another reason we need each other. Sometimes when we cannot see the forest for the trees (whatever that actually means) we need someone else to come alongside and help us find our way. It should go without saying that person has to be the right person. There are plenty of people who are more than willing to tell us what we ought to be doing or where to go (pun intended). Many of those people have not determined their own place or direction. In fact, people who know they are in the right place and are doing the right things rarely have time to concern themselves with what others are doing. In a sense, when we attempt to tell others what they should be doing, we have taken on the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Need we say none of us is qualified for that job?

To summarize, God has a place for each of us to be and meaningful work for each of us to do. Sometimes finding what that is, can be quite difficult. Sometimes we need the help of others to do it at all, but we cannot depend on them to have God's vision for us. How would it be to try and live one's life according to the vision of another? We shudder to think. As we seek our place and our work in God's kingdom, we need to constantly be looking to His Word and His people to help us. It is so very easy to get off track at any point. After all, deception knows no bounds.

What Do I Do

My life has pretty much, totally changed since January 24, 2011. That was the day my employment ended at the Central Coast Rescue Mission. It was also a very freeing day. I had not even realized how much of a box I had been relegated to. Of course change is rarely comfortable and without boundaries as to days and hours at work, not to mention a paycheck hitting my bank account twice a month, that was a dramatic change. At this point we are making our way through a host of changes including a new teaching venue, new roommates, new schedule, and looking for a new church. Just for good measure, there is also the new health insurance, health savings account, and the new doctor. I may be getting too old for this much change all at once. Then again, my father is almost 83 years old and his doctor thinks he could live to be nearly 100 so, should Jesus tarry, I probably have a lot more years to tread this sod.

Almost invariably when we meet someone new, one of the first questions they ask is, "What do you do?" I was asked that question recently while visiting a church for the first time. The problem is, I do not really know what I do. My top-0f-the-head response was, "I am in the process of reinventing myself." I then went on to explain that I am a substance abuse counselor, I am starting a therapeutic community, and I am still trying to figure out how to make money consistently in the stock market, all the while, writing this blog to see if perchance we might defeat the religious spirit over the Santa Maria valley sooner rather than later. If you know anything about me you know I do not give up--on challenges, or on challenging people. Although it might be prudent to throw in the towel at times. That is just not me. God willing, I will be here.

Now I have no job and I am kind of enjoying it. If we can manage to establish some sort of routine and generate enough income, I think the no job thing will work very well for me. Not having a job or a regular stream of income can work on a man's psyche, and especially so if he watches his wife go off to work everyday. I am also in the process of understanding that whole situation and finding peace in it. Have you ever noticed that although God always provides everything we need, we sometimes do not like the way He chooses to do it? Been there done that too. It is probably best just to let Him be God and decide how best to deal with those things. To be sure there has been some stress and anxiety as things are coming into focus, but are not quite there yet. I am looking forward to telling you the end of this story. Of course if you keep reading the posts you will see the lessons as they develop.

It seems that by the age of sixty, I should have a better idea of what I want to be when I grow up. I have always said I am a late bloomer, but now it is getting to edge of being ridiculous. In all actuality, however, I am doing exactly what I want to do and, more importantly what I believe the Lord has called me and prepared me to do. Many people make the mistake of thinking that a multitude of witnesses will tip the spiritual scales toward the truth much like what an attorney expects to have happen in a court of law. Courts of law are courts of law. They have nothing to do with spiritual realities. In the spirit, one man can be a majority. (Do not go getting your exercise by jumping to a conclusion and running off with something I did not just say.) In the Old Testament, the prophets were usually one-man majorities in telling the people what God was saying. Of course, there are also evidences of ample confirmations as in the account of Elisha being told by other prophets that God was about to take Elijah away. (2 Kings 2) The Kings of Israel and Judah were always, each individually a majority. They were the undisputed rulers of their respective kingdoms and their word was law. There were even times when a priest spoke as a majority as in the account of the high priest Caiaphas saying that Jesus should die rather than the whole nation perish. (John 11:50) When it comes to our own, individual lives, we are the only majority that matters. We determine our own course of action, to our benefit or our detriment. A wise person will seek as much counsel as possible before heading in a new direction, but it is still his own decision the ultimately prevails.

A few years ago in a business class, we first heard the concept of a story loop. A story loop is every good reason we can think of to continue to do the wrong things we have been doing. Too many of us have been stuck in story loops for far too long. We cannot do this or that, or what we know God is calling us to do because (fill in the blank).

I used to want to make a lot of money. Although that would be nice, I now have different goals and ambitions. I would still like to have a six figure income some year, and that is almost in sight, just over the horizon. That is not terribly important at this point, but I believe it will happen. For the time being, I am working on providing a place where people who need help with the struggles of life can come and find rest for their souls. If we have not already, we are in the process of shrugging off the religious spirit, at least for our little group. By the way, I have already been criticized for working on all those things, by guess who? That is right, people who do not even know they are affected by a religious spirit. I would be content with being a one-man majority because I know what the Holy Spirit is saying to me. Thankfully, God has a better idea. He has been gathering a few people around me so I do not have to be my own majority. Together we are learning how to lead productive lives, following Jesus, and helping others do the same. We are by no means an exclusive club. Inquire within for details.

Imagine How I Feel

In previous posts, we have discussed the TrueBeliever's Facebook group. They are the ones who believe Jesus will take the true believers away in the rapture on May 21, 2011. They have even set the time as 6:00 PM on that day, but we have not seen any information as to what time zone that would be. Interestingly, the people discussing that possibility seem to be mostly in the good old USofA. We gather they arrived at that time as the same time of day Elijah was calling down fire from heaven during his challenge to the prophets of Baal and Asherah. (1 Kings 18:20-40) We would have to suppose from that the time would really be 6:00 PM (if that is even the right time) in Israel. That would make it 8:00 AM here on the west coast. As of this writing there are about 450 people in the group, including me. I was put into the group by a longtime friend for whatever reason.

Do not count me as one of the TrueBelievers. I am truly skeptical of that date and time for various reasons, but I am much more troubled by some of the other doctrine of the group. I read some of the posts and have chatted on Facebook with a few members of the group. There would not seem to be much point in detailing their bad doctrine except to point out in regard to our personal responsibility to accept Jesus as Lord of our lives, they would be considered hyper-Calvinists. They believe we have no responsibility whatsoever for our own, individual salvation. They believe God has chosen a group of people from before the foundation of the world to be born-again and dwell eternally with Him. Through a complex series of mathematical calculations (bear in mind all mathematical calculations are complex to this writer) they have been able to unlock the mysteries of the Bible as to the timing of events and numbers of those who will be born-again. If you are not in, you are not in. This has caused some pause and even some fear amongst people who belong to the group. They truly do not know if they are among the chosen. It has also given yours truly many opportunities to minister to some of those people. That is what this is post is really about.

I was kind of walking around the house praying the other morning and some frustration, aggravation, and maybe a little anger rose up in me as I thought about the people who have fallen victim to some of the false doctrine. I was complaining to the Lord about the situation, telling Him it was making me angry. I had no sooner gotten the words out of my mouth than I heard in my spirit, "Imagine how I feel."

Preachers occasionally like to remind congregations of a scene in heaven. One never quite knows for sure about such things, but the scene is most likely fictional. The angels in heaven have witnessed the Passion of Jesus and ask the Father what the plan is now that Jesus will be returning to heaven. God responds that the gospel will now be entrusted to born-again men who will preach His salvation to the world. The angels, who have observed mankind for some millennia by that time question God as to His back-up plan should man fail. He tells them there is no back-up plan. That is probably overly-simplistic, but the fact remains that we are the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:27) For now we are sons and daughters of God locked in flesh and blood, but we know that when Jesus appears we will be like Him. (1 John 3:2)

I cannot tell you exactly how God feels about people who do the wrong thing with every good intention because they have been seduced and deceived. I have to think they are not blameless because they did have a part in their deception. We enter into the deception of sin when we are tempted to do the wrong thing and do it because of our own desires. (James 1:14) One has to wonder if the TrueBelievers (on anyone else for that matter) would be quite so sure about their interpretation, analysis, and mathematical computations of the scriptures if they really understood they will be held accountable before God for whatever harm they cause to people who listen to them. (see Mark 9:42) On more than one occasion, I have reminded the TrueBelievers that, "...God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) God did not keep salvation a secret from anyone, let alone those whom He called. He calls all who He knows will respond. We would have to think by this point in history we would be talking about billions of people. They have the number down to only several million. Again, their math, and I do not understand it, so I remain skeptical. I am already working on a post for May 22nd, you know, just in case. If Jesus really does come that day, I will not be here to finish it. I sincerely hope none of you reading this post will be either.

One of my former pastors gave an invitation to receive Jesus at nearly every service he preached. He was fond of saying, "You know if you have been born-again as surely as you know if you have a driver's license." If you are not sure about either of those check your wallet first. If you do not have a license do not drive. Then check your spirit because the Bible certainly says, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." (Romans 8:16) If there is no witness, you can take care of that immediately by asking Jesus to be Lord of your life. Imagine how God would feel to have you as part of His forever family.

A Lesson Not Quite Learned--Or Was It

Early in 1980, we relocated our family to Davis, California following the call of God to do so. We thought we were going there to start a church and help a lot of people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. As we were leaving there seven years later to come back to southern California, the Holy Spirit made it clear we had been there to further our education in the things of God. We did establish a church which we left to another, young couple who were just getting started in ministry.

We spent seven years scratching at some pretty hard ground as we sought to establish something of lasting value for the Kingdom of God in middle of the state. To be sure there were some victories. We saw people born-again and saw them and others come to an understanding of some of the things God had planned for them. Some of those people remain fast friends to this day. Of course it was not all victorious and glorious and everyone did not choose to participate in what God was doing.

In the previous post, we mentioned the hypocrisy of the church when it opens its doors to everyone and later decides who should be there. We faced a situation in that little church that we would not wish on any pastor or leader anywhere. Since no one knows the lady anyway, I will go ahead and use her real name. The way God works, this post might fall into her hands at some point and God can use it for His glory.

Victoria came to the church after having spent a year overseas with the Christian, youth, missionary group, Youth With a Mission. We were excited to have her there because most of the church were still college-age, young people who were not yet grounded and established in their faith. We hoped Victoria would be a good example of how a person in that stage of life dealt with the accompanying challenges. All our hopes were not quite met. She did have some ideas that were helpful in the church meetings, but when given just a little responsibility, she ran with it, not considering the larger picture. Then, after a couple months of being in our weekly services she realized, much to every one's surprise, she had never been born-again.

Receiving Jesus as her Lord did not tone Victoria down much, if at all. It seemed I could not do anything right as pastor of the church. She organized a meeting to see if I could be convinced I was not the right man for the job of pastor. She started a college-age Bible study in her home. She seemed to be very uncomfortable when I showed up one night.

Discernment being what it is, or sometimes is not, it took me several months to realize how badly the church was suffering because of Victoria's influence. Let me hasten to add, I believe she sincerely thought she was doing the right things. She was simply, sincerely wrong. To her credit, my wife repeatedly saw the problem before I did and encouraged me to encourage Victoria to simply leave the church. One of my problems is that I do not give up on people. Sometimes that is less of a problem than at other times. (When I did not encourage Victoria to leave, my wife began to pray her out.)I hold the firm belief that everyone is better off having some kind of Godly influence in their lives and who knows, but that I might be the only one showing them Jesus.

By and by, Victoria left the church of her own accord. She was gone just a few weeks when winter turned into spring in that little church. Without any additional action on our part to encourage people to attend our services, the church attendance doubled in the space of about two months. One of the people who came at that time became our worship leader and our worship times became dramatically more spiritual, energizing, and exciting. At least I thought so, and I had been the primary worship leader up until that time.

If I had it to do all over again, Victoria might not have lasted as long as she did in that church. My discernment is better these days. We almost certainly would have discussed her situation earlier. She was an intelligent and talented young lady and I believe she sincerely wanted to see things improve at the church. Make no mistake, she was going about it all the wrong way. It really was all about her, and what she thought best. Give her some credit. She took action to change things she thought needed changing. There are not all that many people in any church who will do that. When she finally realized things were not going to be her way, she left. I hope she found the right place. My opinion has not really changed on that over the years. I still believe everyone should determine for himself or herself where God wants them to be.